No discussion on Greek bailout extension -Eurogroup's Centeno

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WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - Euro zone officials are not discussing any extensions of the Greek bailout, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Mario Centeno said on Thursday, adding Athens would be subject to the standard monitoring of all former bailout beneficiaries.

Centeno was responding to media speculation that Greece could get a special credit line from the euro zone bailout fund after it exits the programme on August 20 to keep less dependent on markets. Greece does not want such a credit line.

Neither Ireland, nor Portugal, Spain or Cyprus, which all received euro zone bailouts in the past, decided to ask for such a precautionary credit line, opting for what is called in EU jargon a “clean exit”.

“There are no talks of such things as an extension of the Greek programme. The Greek authorities are very much focused on the exit from the programme and finalizing this by August,” Centeno told a seminar at the Atlantic Council in Washington on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund. (Reporting By Balazs Koranyi and Jan Strupczewski)